The way we consume media is increasingly visual – if we look at the types of social media that are most popular (think Instagram, TikTok, Facebook), these mediums are used by 79% of job applicants and rely largely on a visual element. Given these candidate habits, it makes sense that we should appeal to the candidate market with stand-out visual employer branding.
But if you’re looking at your budget and finding no room for commissioned employer branding, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Employer branding is an important first step in establishing a psychological contract with a candidate, so you should still do what you can – here are three cheap ways you can start.
Put your people front and centre
We all know that people–particularly candidates–love seeing the people behind the work, but what they are looking for are real people with real stories, so show them that. It humanises your brand, which helps audiences connect with your product and purpose. Candidates also love People and Culture images because they allow candidates to see their potential colleagues and learn what your organisation is like through the eyes of the people who work there already.
The best part of this is that capturing new People images can be really easy–if you have a decent phone and a spot with good lighting, you can easily capture photos of your people in action! A key part of the process (and keeping your images up to date) is making it a habit; if you see people having a particularly engaging meeting, socialising, or want to feature a new staff member, train yourself to pull your phone out and snap some content to elevate your employer branding.
Another thing candidates love to see is a video from the hiring manager or direct manager talking about the role and what kind of candidate they are looking for; this gives a personal touch to a job advertisement and allows candidates to see who they would be reporting to.
Remix what you already have
Sometimes the best content can be found in your archives. With a plethora of editing tools available, you don’t have to worry about not having the resources to spend on bringing in a videographer or photographer for new content.
If you have an About Us video on your website, photo albums of work-related photos, or videos from work events, you can use a video editing tool to splice these together with some royalty-free music to make entirely new content! If you don’t know your way around an editing tool, there is sure to be someone on your team who knows how to use one. Ask around and get creative with it – you can make anything from short fifteen-second-long reels and video snippets to one-minute-long culture videos.
If you do have a shoot coming up with a videographer or photographer, you can also future-proof the content they capture by planning shots you will be able to repurpose in any future videos. For example, if you’re filming an ‘About Us’ video, you could use footage of a business leader explaining your organisation’s purpose in a future piece for a specific campaign.
Repurposing existing content elevates your employer branding and ensures you get more bang for your buck from content creators.
Refresh your candidate emails
The candidate experience is part of your employer branding, too – so treat it with the same level of care as the rest of your employer branding.
Revisit your candidate email templates and identify the opportunities where you can really get your employer brand across. Instead of a dry Thank you for your application, you could say, Congratulations, your application is with us! What’s next?
With a title like that, you’re inviting candidates to learn more about you, even when they have likely already done their research on your organisation beforehand. Populate the email with pieces of content tailored for a candidate journey – for example, a video of current employees sharing their favourite part of working at your organisation, or photos of employees with quote bubbles next to them about why they like working for you. This is a great opportunity for your candidate to get to know you personally – what the workplace is like, who their future colleagues and leaders will be, and so on.
When candidates are likely applying for multiple jobs at once, you need to make your visual employer branding stand out and give them a reason to come back to you. The more storytelling (and it has to be ruthlessly authentic) that you can add to this part of the process, the more your opportunity will stand out among the others they’re looking at. Your goal is for them to not only be comfortable about attending an interview with you, but to feel excited about it.
Every employer they are applying to will likely have an email journey for their candidates, so having elevated emails in the candidate experience will make the process more memorable and cement your employer brand with the candidate.
Visual employer branding could be the deciding factor in a talented candidate’s decision about where they want to work. The current climate pushes organisations to sell themselves to prospective candidates, rather than the other way around. With these tips in mind, you’re well-positioned to take action and start seeing better results throughout your recruitment process.
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